


Middle Child Syndrome

by Nalia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fulfilled Claim, It's because it's from his perspective, Percy Weasley is my baby, Weasley Bashing, but like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-08 23:31:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6879964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nalia/pseuds/Nalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy discovered the love of his life when he was seven years old. Not that anyone noticed, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mrs. Lovegood

**Author's Note:**

> Percy discovered the love of his life when he was seven years old. Not that anyone noticed, of course.

Percy discovered the love of his life when he was seven years old. Not that anyone noticed, of course.

It was a typical summer day at the Weasley household. Bill was back from Hogwarts, of course, the first of them all to go. Charlie was about to go in the fall, and the two of them spent all their time together now. Percy watched from his window as they went up on their brooms and zoomed around the backyard. Every day they would come home with great exploits of their adventures.

Then there were the twins, who were only five yet they were already menaces. Just the other day the had managed to turn _everything_ of Percy's a violent magenta, even his favorite blanket. Mum had defended them, saying it was only accidental magic, but he had seen the wicked little grins on their faces. They were out to get Percy, that was for sure.

There were little Ron and Ginny. Ron was three. He was sweet and gentle. All he seemed to want to do was eat or watch Bill and Dad play chess. There was always a bright light in his eyes as he did this, and he'd never picked up one of the chess pieces and put them in his mouth, not even once.

And Ginny. Two-year-old Ginny who had more fierceness than any of them. Mum's little girl, the only Weasley girl in several generations. She somehow managed to cause more mischief than all of them combined but whenever Mum looked at her she was as innocent as a doll.

But Percy..he wasn't like any of them. If he had a word to describe what he was missing he would say he was missing their fire.

His siblings were brilliant, each and every one of them. They commanded attention in one way or another. They were loud, so loud it hurt Percy's ears, and maybe that was why his parents never seemed to pay him any mind.

Whenever Percy was in the room his parent's eyes seem to jump over him, because to his left Fred and George were causing trouble and to his right Ginny was being absolutely adorable. But Percy knew, he knew he could be as good as any of them, better even. Not in the same ways of course, but maybe then his parents would pay attention to him. He would be something more than just Invisible Percy, who always made his bed and cleaned his room and ate his vegetables in the hopes someone would notice.

So he sought far and wide for something people would recognize him for. It seemed as though his siblings had already taken everything there was to offer, with that special brand of Weasley fire thrown on top.

He tried to cook with his mother, but after he burned half of the food she summarily kicked him out. He tried to be a gardener, but he managed to kill a flower within a day. He tried to make clothes, but somehow managed to almost cut all of the circulation out of his arm after he made a sleeve.

Yes, he knew, all considered womanly pursuits. But Percy here was not afraid to branch out.

His lucky break came in the form of an accident. Bill had managed to keep all of his books locked away out of the twins reach, but after a burst of "accidental" magic, they managed to unlock the cupboard they were kept in and sent them scattering all over the floor. In truth, the twins were only after the cauldron. They managed to get everything picked up but Percy spotted a book that had been left under the bed.

Percy picked it up, and because if anything he could say he had a strong moral compass, he fully intended to return the book to his brother. In fact, he was this close before he caught the title on the cover.

_A History of Magic_

A history of magic? Percy looked at it skeptically. Like, the whole history?

The Weasleys didn't have many books. None of them were really readers, and the only books his mother had were on house magic. Percy had never read any book that was longer than twenty pages long and didn't have something to say about maths or the basics of quill writing.

But besides being much thicker, this book just felt different to Percy. Different enough that he raced back to his violently magenta room and tucked it into bed under his large pile of fluffy pillows (Percy preferred comfort).

All through dinner at night he sat even more quietly than normal. Usually, he made some sort of half effort at joining the conversation, but that was usually shut down pretty quickly. His favorite memory was when for once his family actually looked interested in what he had to say about dragons and Ginny interrupted with her first word.

He cried that night.

But tonight he couldn't shove food in his stomach fast enough. He wouldn't wait for bedtime. By the time he got to get into bed he was practically vibrating. Percy didn't even mind when once again Mum forgot to come in and read him a bedtime story because she was too busy elsewhere.

He waited until the house went quiet, or as quiet as it would ever be, and he pulled the book out.

When Percy opened the book, it felt like magic. The way his stomach flipped and the blood in his veins buzzed and he knew, he knew he had found his calling.

If reading books could be called a calling, but whatever.

He stayed up until the sun broke the dawn, and did so for a week. When they went over to visit the Lovegoods, he went over to Mrs. Lovegood. She'd always been one of his favorite people, if not his absolute favorite. Her protruding grey eyes had always unsettled his brothers, but Mrs. Lovegood was, well, _good_. She had brilliance dancing in those eyes and she always had a kind word for him, Mrs. Lovegood always went out of her way to find him, be nice to him, smile at him. He figured out of anyone, she would understand.

"Mrs. Lovegood?" Percy asked, wringing his hands nervously. Mrs. Lovegood looked down at him before crouching down to his level. She ran a hand through his red curls and smiled.

"What do you need, Percy?" Because she always asked what he needed, not what he wanted. Percy didn't have many wants in her eyes, just deep, painful needs.

"Do you have any books I could borrow please, Mrs. Lovegood?" He asked as politely as he could. She rocked back on her heels to consider him and tilted he head to the side.

"What kind of books were you thinking of?" she asked.

Percy's eyes widened and began to glow. A smile crept across his face. "Oh, _all_ the books Mrs. Lovegood."

She laughed. "Well, _all_ the books it is."

When Percy went home he had an expandable pouch filled to the brim with books. Nonfiction, fiction. Books on history and magic and even muggle science. He had storybooks, tales that were familiar and old weird ones the Lovegoods kept in their house. Mrs. Lovegood had copied all of them for him then did some sort of fancy little charm she had invented themselves to make them permanent. Percy was delighted.

On his birthday near the end of the summer, he just asked for more books. Books, his family could do. Used books at least. So without much ceremony, because his birthday was close to the beginning of the school year and there never seemed to be any ceremony regardless, he was handed a huge pile of brand new used books.

So Percy read.

And he read.

And he read some more.

For the first time in a long time, Percy was truly happy. When he was reading books he didn't think about how his family ignored him. When he was reading books he could go to different worlds. When he was reading books he could _learn_.

His family, if it was possible, began to notice Percy even less. After all, he did nothing of note when compared to his siblings. If Percy had bothered to really look up from his books and take notice, he would have noticed that the same was beginning to happen to Ron.

It was July 23rd, the exact anniversary of when he read his first real book, that everything changed all over again.

Percy wasn't in his room reading for once. Instead, he was helping his now three-year-old sister Ginny clumsily pick flowers in the backyard for their Mum. Daffodils and dandelions, an explosion of yellow. They got into the house and Ginny handed Mum a grubby handful of flowers when-

_Bang_

Percy knew. He didn't want to know, but he _knew_. When he arrived at his room, panting and out of breath before even his Mum could arrive he saw it.

The door to his room was hanging open off the hinges. His bed was in total disarray, but his eyes were on his books

His books, his friends. They were all scattered about the room, their pages torn out and ripped to shreds. They were gone, they were destroyed.

For a moment, Percy stood stock still. Heat built in him, but he was frozen. Who would he have now? Who would comfort him at night? Who would tell him stories and be his friend?

There were tears running down his face before he even knew that he wanted to cry. They dripped onto his shirt and turned his face bright red. When he sniffled, Mum finally turned from where she was reprimanding the twins to take notice of him.

"Oh Percy, it's not so bad. The twins said it was just an accident." she tried to soothe him.

But the twins were smiling behind her, and Percy knew that it was no " _accident_ ". That's when the heat that had been building in Percy finally exploded.

Percy hadn't performed accidental magic since he was three years old. He had forgotten what it felt like.

When it was over, his room was in perfect order, his books were back together, and even the lingering remnants of magenta were gone.

But the twins were crying, loud choking sobs that Percy knew them well enough to know were faked, and his Mum was reprimanding him now with her hands on her hips.

When they were all gone, Percy curled up on his bed with his first and favorite book in his arms. Bill never knew where his textbook had gone off to.

Sure, Percy was the middle child. Sure, his family didn't seem to understand him, appreciate him, or even love him sometimes. But he had himself, and he had his books, and he had Mrs. Lovegood (though not for long, poor boy, not for long). As long as he had all that, he didn't need his family. He had all the love he needed.

And someday, he would rise above his stupid family anyway.


	2. Penelope

By the time Percy made it to Hogwarts, some things had changed.

He was still largely ignored, of course. He still spent most of his time up in his room reading, of course. But Percy began to _comprehend_ and _connect_ the information he was learning. Percy was _smart_ , something he'd never quite realized about himself. Smart in a way different than all of his siblings, something he already knew. Smart in a cold way that allowed him to absorb and process loads of information.

From his books, he knew that if you were smart you could get places. Places like the Ministry where he could _be_ somebody.

So Percy was exceptionally excited when he stepped into Kings Cross to go to Hogwarts. This was the place where people were made. He wouldn't mind getting placed in Gryffindor like his brothers, or Ravenclaw. As long as he had a good place to put himself to work he would be satisfied.

He rode the train with a pretty girl named Penelope Clearwater. She was a pureblood girl from a family not unlike Percy's, though her family wasn't a part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. They got along rather well the entire ride and even rode the boat over together.

Sooner than Percy thought possible he found himself on an uncomfortable wooden stool and the old rag of the Sorting Hat sitting over his eyes.

_Another Weasley I see. Ah, and more of you are on the way. Those little twins are a menace._

Yes, you have no idea.

_Lonely boy you are. Smart, though. Not much of a skill for reading people very well, but your ambition..._

I want to work for the Ministry.

_You want to be the best. You want to prove your family wrong for not loving you as they should, you want to prove the world wrong._

So what if I do?

_You'd do well in Slytherin dear boy._

Percy felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. No, no way he could be in Slytherin. If he was, there was no way his family would respect him. They'd hate him.

_You would like it in there. I normally wouldn't recommend Slytherin's for their friendship, but someone like you, you could build some strong bonds._

I can't be in Slytherin. Just stick me in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor like my brothers, please.

_Alright, as you wish. But remember, sometimes it's less about being impressive and more about just being a part of your family. Better be GRYFFINDOR!_

So began Percy's journey at Hogwarts.

o*o*o*o*o

By the end of Percy's first year, he was very decidedly at the top of his class. Straight O's in every subject, he had worked his arse off for those grades.

Which was all well and good, and his Mum even gave him a bright smile and a pat on the shoulder, but it was nothing compared to what Bill and Charlie had already accomplished.

The twins had been making fun of him even more recently. He rarely cracked a smile, he didn't joke, he didn't laugh. He didn't know how to tell them that it was because when he was around them, he never felt much happiness.

o*o*o*o*o

During his second year, Percy enjoyed himself much more. He made top marks, and though he didn't really have many friends he had Penelope and a few other friends from Ravenclaw. Sometimes he wished that he was in there with them.

You see, Percy had come around to the realization that the Sorting Hat may have been right. Just as he was always out of place with his family, he was always out of place with Gryffindor. They were perfectly nice people, don't get him wrong, but they didn't _get_ him. Percy even had thoughts that he would get along better with the Slytherins. They were a bunch of bigots, to be sure, but they understood Percy's ambition.

Once again he had top marks, and once again his parents just sort of ignored him. But Percy was okay with that, in a way. Or he was trying to be okay with it. He would be okay with it, eventually.

o*o*o*o*o

Third year brought with it the twins.

Although Percy never acknowledged it, he'd always felt some sort of apprehension on a very deep level about the twins coming to Hogwarts. Even though Percy had always resented the Hat's accusations that he wasn't people smart, he knew the hat to be right.

Yet even Percy was smart enough to realize what kind of chaos to his life the twins would bring, and he was right on every account.

They were wild. The twins were the sort of people who managed to constantly get in trouble yet no one hated them.

Fred & George were charming, friendly, funny. They were oddly chivalric at times, the girls loved them, and yet they never broke a girls heart. They were too nice for that.

Percy could admit the twins as they aged were good guys in most situations. But he was also their brother, and he knew them. Most importantly, he knew about their cruel streak. The one that sometimes made them take their pranks a bit too far, the one that made them occasionally see the people they pranked and disliked as a bit less than human.

Percy knew because they'd done it to him as he'd grown up. Though why would anyone ever listen to him?

o*o*o*o*o

Fourth year was nice. Well, as nice as it could ever get with the twins at the same school

People now saw him as the "studious" Weasley. He was also the "pompous" Weasley and the "prissy" Weasley. None of which he could fully deny because he _did_ like things in a very exact way, and he _had_ developed a taste for bragging. If there was one way to get people to notice you, Percy realized, it was to brag a bit. Of course, he didn't brag nearly as much as anyone else, and most of his holier than thou reputation had come from the fact he liked to correct people or lecture them on the rules.

He spent increasing amount of times outside of the tower and in the library with Penelope Clearwater to study for O.W.L.S the coming year. They knew it was early, but it never hurt to be prepared.

It was during these study sessions that Percy began to notice Penelope. He noticed her long curly brown curls, the color of freshly brewed coffee. Her eyelashes were long and thick, her eyes the same clear green as spring sunlight filtering through a leaf. She always smelled like fresh baked sugar cookies and always was quick to give him a smile, share a laugh, recommend a book.

He liked her, he really liked her, and that was bad. Percy had learned by this point in his life that most good things in his life didn't last long without someone in his family ruining it for him. But Percy could always buy new books, stay at Hogwarts. He could never find a new Penelope.

So when she smiled at him a bit too long when he told her a joke over dinner one April day, Percy looked away.

o*o*o*o*o

His fifth year was a landmark. Percy knew it was to be the moment he opened his Hogwarts letter and a shiny golden badge slipped out.

Percy immediately pinned it to his sweater and admired the way it caught the light. Mum squealed and hugged him, and Dad put a hand on his shoulder. For a brief moment, everything was happy in his life when,

"Ah, now Forge, what do we have here?"

"Looks like instead of Perfect Percy now it's Prefect Percy."

"Perfect Prefect Percy."

The pride that was in Percy dissolved in an instant. For a moment, he contemplated taking it off and storing it away.

But no. He wasn't going to take this anymore. He was not going to let the twins or anyone else in his family ruin things for him anymore. So instead Percy leveled them with a heavy glare, and informed them in as lofty of a voice that he could muster,

"Yes, and you better make sure you don't violate any rules on my watch."

The twins smirked at him.

So when Percy went back to school he leveraged his new confidence any way he could. He made sure all of the first years, including his little brother Ron and his new friend Harry Potter, got back to their dorms when needed. He kept an eye on that Granger girl who seemed to be having a hard time and quietly took care of the worst of it for her, canceling jinxes before she noticed and always managing to find her when she got lost.

One area he was not so confident in was Penelope Clearwater, but it turned out he didn't have to worry about that because one day after winter break she cornered him in their little empty part of the library and made sure he had no place to run.

"Look, Percy," She was wringing her hands and biting her bottom lip like she always did when she was anxious. Percy resisted the urge to hold her hand, to nudge her lip from her teeth, to sooth her fears.

"Penny..."

"No, I have to say, I have to do this." Penelope looked down at her hands, but then she was a whirl of motion as she launched on him and pushed him back and _kissed_ him.

Merlin, it was better than he'd always imagined. Her lips were soft, so soft, and he was floating on the smell of sugar cookies and he insured his hands stayed in safe places like her silky soft hair or the sturdy curve of her waist. Percy liked that about her, how it seemed like nothing could break her.

So he hoisted her up by that waist and sat her on their table so that he could feel her legs wrap around him.

That day, next to when Percy got his first book, or when he got his Prefect badge, or when he had his fifth birthday and fireworks had coincidentally gone off a few miles from the Burrow, was one of the best days of his life.

o*o*o*o*o

"Where is she?"

Madam Pomphrey looked startled at how forcefully Percy had asked her, but he didn't notice. He was scanning the beds for her and...there.

Penelope was on one of the beds, her arm outstretched and her expression frozen in fear. She was right next to Granger. Percy went over to her bed and sat by her side.

Everything had gone all upside down that year, but Percy never thought, he just never thought that something like this would happen to his Penny. She was a pureblood, she was supposed to be safe.

Ginny was acting oddly that year, but she had caught the two of them and understood fully how bad their family could be about that sort of thing so at the moment she was covering for him to their family.

He sat by Penny's bed until Pomphrey made him leave. But before Percy left, he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

o*o*o*o*o

"This is so exciting," Penny said.

Percy agreed. As long as she had her feet up on the table and he caught those glimpses of creamy skin underneath her skirt, things were very exciting indeed.

But he knew she was talking about the fact that they were graduating, and the fact they both had guaranteed jobs at the Ministry after they graduated. Things like that.

After they graduated, him at the very top of his class, Percy went home to the Burrow. The day before his first day of work, he went and got a monkey faced orchid and visited the graveyard.

There was already a girl there, her hair long and silver blonde clad in a neon green dress.

Percy sat next to her and felt for how much she looked like her mother.

"Percy..." Luna smiled. She crept towards him and sat so close that their knees touched. He slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

Percy knew that he couldn't have loved Mrs. Lovegood as much as Luna did. He couldn't, no matter what Luna said. Maybe Luna just read the sadness around him and wanted to make him feel better. She did things like that.

But Percy had loved Mrs. Lovegood so much, more than anything or anyone else in the world.

The two of them, daughter and pseudo-son, sat down on the moist earth. They'd planted her under an apple tree, which Percy thought was fitting. Luna said it was symbolic like she was always giving, even after death.

In later years when Percy would speak about his time in Hogwarts, he wouldn't speak about her. It made him too upset.

In his later years, he wouldn't speak about a lot of things.


	3. Fred

In the summer of 1994, Percy Ignatius Weasley was assigned to work at the Department of International Cooperation under Bartemius Crouch Sr.

Percy liked working for the Ministry, and especially for Mr. Crouch. Mr. Crouch was everything he'd hoped find there. Practical, methodical, believed more in the merit of his hard work than anything else.

Well, he also still didn't know his name, but some things were just the way they were.

Eventually, Percy was sure, he'd earn enough respect for his name to be known by the entire Ministry.

They'd even assigned him a job already: doing a report on cauldron thickness. A bit dull, but Percy had to admit that it really was an important issue. Too thin, and the potion may be heated too far or get through the bottom when it began to wear down. Too thick, and the potion may not be heated fast enough. That wasn't even to speak of what would happen if the bottom had varying levels of thickness.

It constituted a very large amount of research, and even though his family poked jokes at him as usual, Percy was resolute in his belief that this was important. What did they know? They were already prohibiting him from working as long of hours as he wanted. Percy was not going to let his family stand in his way to success.

Just like later that summer. Someone (Fred and Ron) had placed a bet that he would fail his test to get his Apparition license. So after he got it, he decided to apparate own to breakfast every morning, just to prove a point.

When they went to the Quidditch World Cup, Percy was exceptionally excited. His boss would be there, he knew. This would be his opportunity to prove to his family that he was somebody.

It was a beautiful day outside. They'd all traveled with the Diggory's, and Ron had brought his friends along as well. Which was alright with Percy, he supposed. No matter how Ron treated him, he was still somewhat protective over his younger brother. Harry Potter was a hazard, to put it lightly. Percy didn't feel like Harry was _purposely_ being a menace, but if anyone perfectly characterized the "act first think later" mentality of their house, it was him.

The Granger girl was still alright, though. Bossy and a little bit of know it all, but Percy would be a hypocrite if he said he couldn't stand those traits in someone.

The family set up their tent, something Percy enjoyed. They'd only really taken it out once before on a camping trip, which was simultaneously one of the best and worst vacations of his life.

Bug bites and ripe fruit. He didn't want to talk about it.

That's when Percy spotted Mr. Crouch. He could practically feel his chest puff up under his argyle sweater vest when he saw him, and Percy strutted over confidently with the rest of his family trailing behind him.

Of course, Percy had somehow forgotten that his boss neither knew or seemed to care to know what his name was. "Weatherby" the disdain of his life.

Nothing more, of course, than the pure cacophony that buggered him after that.

Death Eaters. Following the wishes of a leader who was no longer alive to tell them to do otherwise. Percy was buried in paperwork for _weeks_ afterward, but at least by Christmas Crouch apparently recognized that he was good for something and promoted him to his personal assistant.

What followed was what Percy would much later call an unmitigated disaster. Because Crouch was "sick" Percy got to fulfill his duties and taste what real power was like. He even got to meet wth other Heads of Magical Cooperation.

Until they found Crouch in a forest and asked Percy how could he not have known something was wrong with his boss.

His answer: _He was sick, and my orders were the same as usual._

Honest answer: _I was too drunk and distracted by the power to pay much attention._

At least Penelope understood. She always understood. He went over to her flat in London and laid his head on her lap while she stroked through his curls and listened to his problems.

"How were you expected to know such a thing?" She scoffed. "You barely knew the man, for one, and you were too busy doing his job for another." Penny sounded as indignant as he wanted to feel.

At the moment, all he felt was a warm feeling pushing up through his chest, straining out to her.

"I love you." He murmured. Percy heard her laugh, a soft breathy thing.

"I know." She said. Penny leaned over and kissed him full on the mouth, and before they knew it he had her on her back, her fingers tangled in his hair, her legs around his waist, his glasses balanced on her coffee table.

o*o*o*o*o

"What do you want Mother?" Percy asked.

His mother had been standing on the other sid of the door of his and Penelope's apartment for five minutes now. He was glad Penny was gone. This was not something that she would appreciate, especially with how much she wanted him to reconcile with his family.

Percy had to admit he was surprised it took so long for his mother to come around to see him after he moved out. Molly Weasley was the sort of woman who always wanted her family to have cohesion. He wondered if she really wanted him to come back because she missed him, or because it threatened her perfectly stable family.

"I just was to talk. Percy, please." Mum had a particularly broken quality to her voice that Percy couldn't resist. He opened the door to reveal his Mum standing there. He was surprised, as he has been since he was thirteen, that he was looking down at her.

"Percy, come home." Mum pleaded. Percy shook his head. Of course, this is the first thing she would jump to.

"I can't come home, not after what dad said." He stood as straight as he could, pushing up his glasses and crossing his arms. He refused to let her see how upset he was.

"He didn't mean it..." she began.

"Yes, he did. I can't live in a house that doesn't support me and my ambitions." Percy said. Behind him, he could hear the Floo activating.

"Your ambitions can still work in a different position," Mum said.

"I want to be the Minister, Mum. What better place for me than being his personal assistant?"

Mum looked abashed, and Percy rolled his eyes. He knew that his family would never accept him the way he was, and now that he was finally trying to have something for himself and no longer seeking their approval they just couldn't stand it.

"We love you, Percy, we just want to protect you," Mum said. Percy shook his head.

"No, you just want to protect yourselves and your precious Dumbledore. You care nothing for what I want." Percy said. With that, he shut the door in his Mum's face. He heard her let out a choked sob that almost broke his heart and shuffle down the hallway.

Percy took a moment to compose himself, but when he turned around her saw Penny standing there. Beautiful Penelope with the spring green eyes and her curly soft hair. She looked at him now in disappointment.

"You might think to put aside some of your ambitions to keep your family." She admonished him. But Percy didn't listen to her.

o*o*o*o*o

And he didn't listen to her when he returned the sweater him Mum sent him at Christmas without a note. But later he'd wish he had.

o*o*o*o*o

And he didn't listen to her when his father had almost gotten killed by a snake and was laying recovering in Mungo's, but later he'd wish he had.

o*o*o*o*o

And that later almost came when Fudge pretty much proved him right well over a year later by forcing him to go to his house for the holidays. But that didn't last long when his Mum was the only one to hug him and his siblings flung food at him.

o*o*o*o*o

That later came. Popular to contrary belief, it was not when they killed Scrimgeour and put in Thicknesse, though that was certainly a large part of it.

That later came the morning after, when Percy woke up in his bed alone.

Penelope had gone out the night before to get some milk.

Penelope hadn't come back.

And Percy _knew_.

He didn't cry. He didn't call off work or anything. Percy got up and went through his morning routine, feeling as if half of it was missing. He made a pot of tea and poured out the other half after he realized it had gone cold. He washed one set of dishes instead of two. He kissed no one goodbye as he went through the Floo to go to the Ministry for work.

When Percy came back, he calmly and methodically went through the entire apartment. It would do no good to keep it as a shrine. He boxed up her knick knacks to send to her family, took her toiletries and beauty potions out of the bathroom. He packed up her clothes.

There were little things of her's he kept, here and there. He never wanted to forget her.

The best thing he kept was her favorite sweater. It was large and brown and baggy, one of Percy's old ones actually. She loved to read in it every night.

He curled up into his favorite chair, held her sweater to his nose, and cried.

It smelled like sugar cookies.

o*o*o*o*o

Percy had only been to the Room of Requirement a couple times. Never had it looked like this.

He made his way out of the long tunnel that Aberfoth had sent him down to find his family there, his entire family, almost. They were yelling at Ginny about something, but that had all stopped as soon as he entered the room.

"I'm...sorry." He said.

His family waited for more, so he gave it to them.

"I was a fool! I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I — was a — a —" Percy stumbled on his words, unsure of how much further he could go, how much more he could say.

"Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron." Fred pointed out.

"Yes, I was!" Percy agreed.

"Well, you can't say fairer than that."

Fred and Geroge embraced him, followed by the rest. He savored it. He had felt so alone lately. He had forsaken his family, Penelope was gone, and he had barely a friend to his name after they all turned on him for disowning Voldemort. He needed this.

But there was a war to fight, and because they were Weasley's his family joined the fray. He noted that even though they didn't want Ginny to fight, she had wormed her way out there.

She winked at him when he looked at her, and in that moment she reminded him so much of when she was a toddler and about to do something stupid. He just hoped it wouldn't end up with his only sister dead.

So they fought, he fought. Percy didn't fight. He wasn't a warrior like his siblings. He was a scholar. Pery preferred books and order to duels and lawlessness.

But Percy was a Weasley, so he fought. He fought with Fred, surprisingly enough. They were a good team. Percy had an efficiency that Fred lacked, but they were more creative and therefore had an unexpectedness to their fighting.

It happened when he was fighting his former boss, Thicknesse.

"Hello, Minister! Did I mention I'm resigning?" because Percy must've been crazed. Fred laughed in disbelief.

"You're joking, Perce! You actually are joking, Percy… I don't think I've heard you joke since you were — "

He died. It was an explosion, and his little brother died.

Part of Percy, another part of him, that made three now, died with him. So when Harry and Ron helped him get Fred's body to a safe place, Percy went back out into the battle and ran at Augustus Rookwood, who was slinging curses at a group of students.

Because if parts of him were going to keep dying, someone who deserved it was going to die as well.


	4. Audrey

The twins were the first one to forgive him, that's what Percy remembered. That's what he wanted to remember, anyway.

Unfortunately, the Battle of Hogwarts was engraved in his memory deeply. He would never need a pensive because he could remember every single second. 

Even after it was all done, he could remember. His little brother was dead. So many were dead. 

Luna came over a lot more often. She believed he needed healing, and he couldn't deny the calm that came with her presence. The older she got, the more she looked like her mother. Eventually, she moved in. It was illogical of her to pay rent on a flat when she was always out traveling, she said. Percy knew it was because she knew he needed her.

Lavender came over a lot too. He'd had little contact with her while they were in school. Apparently she felt a lot of gratitude towards him for saving her life in the Battle, for treating her after her body was mutilated by Greyback. Her parents were purebloods, they could barely stand to see their daughter. Percy stopped by her bedside every day, and she appreciated him for it.

If Luna made him feel as if he was calm, Lavender made him feel as if he was on fire. Even after the devastating events of the Battle, she was so full of _life_ and _hope_. He drank from it and built himself up again.

One day both of them were in his home, so they all decided to take lunch together. Lavender, Luna, and Percy. Who would've thought, he mused to himself?

They sat around a round wooden table Lavender had found for him at one of her flea markets. Luna had made the food, and mercifully at least her cooking was normal. Percy made the tea, the way each of them liked it. 

They sat together in a comfortable silence. It was two years after the battle, and this was how life was to go on, he supposed. Until Luna opened her mouth.

"I've met someone, and we're to get married soon." she announced.

Percy was attempting to recover from his shock when,

"Dean wants me to move in with him as well." Lavender added.

They'd found someone for him, they declared. So he wouldn't be so lonely. So he'd have someone when they were gone. He needed to keep living.

That's how he met Audrey. 

Audrey was the fire of Lavender and the calming of Luna. She loved books and adventure and being prepared for all eventualities. She had doe brown eyes and wavy brown hair. She smelled like cinnamon buns.

She made Percy afraid to love her, because the last girl he loved had died. But Audrey was relentless. Audrey fell for him hard and quick. Audrey understood that he still sometimes had problems with his family, kept a sweater that smelled like sugar cookies in his box of memories, and could sometimes be a pompous brat.

She made it so easy, and Percy needed easy, so he loved her back. Then he loved her even more, because she deserved more.

Audrey lost her entire family over the course of two wars. She had no one. She was a half-blood. She loved his family, and they loved her. She'd been a Hufflepuff.

When Lavender and Luna left the house to start their own families, he had Audrey. They had a small, intimate wedding. They wrapped their arms around each other and were grateful each and every night.

So they went through their days together. One day Audrey announced that she was pregnant. They had a daughter, Molly. They had another daughter soon after, Lucy.

Percy was happy, very happy. But no matter how far he moved from his time as a child in a Burrow, he would never forget. 

He read them stories every night. He praised them for keeping their rooms neat and orderly. He cooed over their good grades He rewarded them on their accomplishments and gently held them during their failures.

He vowed to never let his daughters feel unwanted, or unloved, or forgotten. 

FIN


End file.
